The sounds of explosions, gunshots and bom-

bardment made us believe we were absolutely

going to die.
Quarter-annual report of human rights abuses in Sinai
– July, August, September-
 Quarter-annual report of human rights abuses in Sinai
– July, August, September -
Summary
Civilians are the weakest link in the ongoing conflict in the Sinai Peninsula between the Armed Forces
and the Egyptian police force on one side, and extremist Islamist armed groups on another. The
conflict levels have been on a steady rise since former President Mohamed Morsy was ousted in 2013,
and things have gotten much worse in late 2014 when armed groups in Sinai united and pledged their
allegiance to ISIS, and formed a group called Wilayat Sina’, or Sinai Province. Almost no day goes by
without a violation with the locals as its victims.

During the time period the report is covering, “Sinai Foundation for Human Rights” has documented
35 abuses by the active parties in Sinai, with the Egyptian Armed Forces committing the most abuse
with 26 abuses, followed by ISIS with eight abuses, then pro-government irregular armed groups with
one violation.

These abuses were geographically concentrated in “Bir al-Abd” with a count of 19 abuses, followed by
“al-Sheikh Zuwayed” with 12 abuses, then “al-Arish” and “Rafah” with two abuses each. The foundation
has also documented the murder of 10 people, among which is four children and one woman, and the
injury of 16 others, among which is six children and two women.

Over the course of three months, the “Sinai Foundation” has kept up with all the abuses in the
area, and they were all counted and documented by the “Sinai Foundation” field team. This report’s
methodology basically depends on eyewitness accounts collected through interviews, field visits, and
phone calls with 64 local citizens and victims’ relatives or people with direct relationships to them,
activists, local journalists, and a number of government officials, and we collected accurate data from
medical sources from the hospitals affected by some of those abuses.

This report shows, through a series of testimonies and abuses, how the conflicting parties did not
take the civilians into account, and in some cases, purposely used them or violated their rights which
is common in Sinai. The report points to the fact that the alternating attacks between the Egyptian
government forces and the Sinai Province group turn the region into an ongoing long-term conflict
zone that leads to many abuses, some of which could be considered war crimes and crimes against
humanity, which relative laws and treaties consider as imprescriptible, and the affected could at any
time sue those who caused them.

1
It is important to say, that most of the abuses that take place in Sinai are not recorded in the country’s
official records, or are inaccurately recorded in a way that reduces the chance of the victims’ ability to
try to claim their rights, as the Egyptian law enforcement forces mostly do not admit to the fact that
there are victims of their operations. And the administrative and medical records and the security
authorities record the casualties caused by those operations as results of unknown reasons, which
protects the responsible authorities from any accountability or compensations due to the victims.

Infer graph that shows the number of civilian victims, and dividing them into
children, women and men
The military


Men Women Children

kills injuries

kills injuries
Men 1 5
Women 3 0
Children 3 5

2
 Isis



Men Women Children

kills injuries

kills injuries
Men 4 3
Women 0 2
Children 1 1

3
 A graph to divide the abuses in North Sinai
)into the armed forces and Isis(

Number of abuses

2 2
The abuses in

19
North Sinai

12 (into the armed

forces and Isis)

City

Rafah Al-Arish Al-Sheikh Zwayed Bir al-Abd